Rowland’s HOF ballot: Part I, the Jon Shibleys

As in, “the biggest no-brainers in the history of Earth.”

1. Tim Raines. All the things the stat geeks say about the Hall voters regarding PED’s is true when it comes to Raines’ candidacy. The difference is that morality has nothing to with steroids — its performance enhancement. Cocaine didn’t make Raines a better player.

There’s no other reason to exclude Raines, who’s overshadowed by Rickey Henderson though the disparity between the two isn’t that great.

I consider Al Oliver a HOFer, even if the writers don’t. .303 career average (I looked it up) with over 2700 career hits including more than 500 doubles. For 15 years he was one of the toughest outs in baseball. Why he is ignored is beyond me.

I thought he was a very good hitter and a terrible fielder. He was one dimensional. He was consistently very good at the plate. There were only a few years when he was great. I don’t think of him as HOF, but what the hell, Rizzuto is in there so why not?